For experienced gardeners, growing food is no sweat. But for first-timers, there is often too much guesswork involved for GIY to be a realistic option. Where can I find the materials I need? How much do I water? Where did all these weeds come from?

Social entrepreneur Phil Weiner is trying to change that by making home-based food production both easy and affordable. Weiner, 26, is the founder of UrbnEarth, a new brand focused on cultivating urban gardeners with the help of his company's first product, the 6-square-foot UrbMat Garden System.

Weiner: I grew up in inner-city D.C., in a neighborhood called LeDroit Park. I remember the nearby Gage School was boarded up, and the only fruits or vegetables in the corner store were hot pickled peppers. My great aunt would always remind me of how the neighborhood looked during World War II: vegetable victory gardens everywhere. “For five years,” she said, “we got all of our produce from the community.”

I started my own personal journey into homegrown food after my dad passed away from diabetes in 2008. That moment galvanized me to start creating products that help people lead a healthier lifestyle.

Q: Why is it important that people grow their own food?

Weiner: People have become disconnected from their soil. Many kids truly believe that tomatoes come from the grocery store. But for most people in urban areas, the food options are limited. Growing food or flowers, in general, creates a sense of community and empowerment. In areas like LeDroit Park in D.C. and Bayview in San Francisco, gardens have become place-based community building centers. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has lately been talking about micro-gardens as a critical way to help the urban poor get more food on the table. But for me, growing your own food reduces dependencies and gives people the power to choose.

Just a little bit of knowledge can change the way you view the world. If people in urban locales are educated on eating healthy from a very young age, as they get older, their demand for healthier choices will increase, and the supply will follow.

Q: Why the focus on city-dwellers?

Weiner: We all know that fresh, local produce is good for us. But it can be expensive to buy and hard to grow yourself—especially in cities. Whether it’s picking the right plants and seeds or matching them with the right spacing and planting times, gardening involves a lot of guesswork. Mistakes can prevent new or inexperienced gardeners from getting the results they want.

Eighty-two percent of the U.S. population lives in urban areas. Americans are interested in eating local, fresh, organic food, so we thought, “How can we reduce these barriers and get healthy produce into the hands of regular city-dwellers?”

an UrbMat in a raised bed

The answer: empower them with an affordable solution, education, and resources as well. Then keep educating them.

Perception equals reality. If you believe you can't start growing your own food, you won’t. But as Dan Michaelis, a University of Maryland student said, “I’ve never really wanted to garden before, but [the UrbMat] makes me feel like I could, and maybe I will.”

Q: What's next?

Weiner: We will be working on indoor solutions, concrete solutions, as well as a unified movement to make food more social. We are currently fundraising to build up our social digital presence and innovate our product portfolio.

We already have customers in more than 30 states and 16 countries around the world. Our plan is to scale-up production to create a much bigger homegrown food movement by selling through traditional retail channels. We want to see UrbMats in every school around the country and every small space being used for edible gardens.

We also have plans to work with Super Sprowtz, the nutrition education company, on creating education products for inspiring and empowering kids to learn how to eat healthy.

I would like to encourage everyone to get out there and grow. One person growing can't change the way we think about food, but if we all get out and grow, we'd be able to create a healthier planet overnight.

The UrbMat Garden System will retail for $54.95, a real deal, and can be pre-ordered at UrbnEarth.com. For every UrbMat you buy, UrbnEarth will send four meals to children suffering from hunger in the U.S., thanks to a partnership with Two Degrees Food and Feeding America.

Calling all young sustainability entrepreneurs! Unilever and Ashoka Changemakers are looking for the next generation of leaders. Do you have an inspiring solution? Enter it today at changemakers.com/sustLiving.